Even though the number of visitors reached a record
Bremer Botanika is on the verge of bankruptcy: an injection of millions of dollars is needed
11/25/2025 – 01:38Reading time: 1 minute.
A paradoxical situation in Bremen: Botanika is attracting more visitors than ever – but is now facing bankruptcy. Now politicians have to make a decision.
Visitor notes and red numbers: Botanica in Bremen’s Rhododendron Garden struggles to survive. Without a multimillion-dollar cash injection, the popular nature tourism center is at risk of going bankrupt next year.
As seen from confidential submissions to the next meeting of environmental representatives, the facility needs around 800,000 euros for 2026 and another million euros for 2027.
The paper cites increasing personnel costs and higher costs for the care and maintenance of plant collections as reasons for financial difficulties. The money previously budgeted by the City of Bremen as a shareholder of Botanika was unable to absorb the increase in costs.
The number of visitors is growing positively: although there were 98,000 visitors in 2019 before Corona, the fair has recently recorded a continuous upward trend. 128,000 visitors will come in 2023 and 135,000 in 2024. As of September this year, 108,000 visitors have been counted.
Botanika’s balance sheet has been in the red zone for a long time. According to the business portal Northdata, Botanika GmbH’s annual deficit in 2023 will amount to around 1.2 million euros. Previous years also mostly reported six-figure losses.
Ralph Saxe (Greens), environmental representative member, said: “Botanica is a valuable extracurricular educational institution. It is attractive to tourists and as a place of identification. It should be preserved.”
The future of Botanika, whether it will continue to be funded or possibly close, will be discussed at environmental representatives next Thursday.
